16×2 LCD Display 1602 Pinout Diagram and Connection

Hi, in this article, we are going to see the 16×2 LCD Display 1602 Pinout Diagram and the functions of each pin. A 16x2 LCD display is also known as LCD 1602. It is a type of alphanumeric liquid crystal display used in many electronics projects, especially with microcontrollers like Arduino. The "16x2" denotes that the display has 16 columns and 2 rows which means it can show up to 32 characters at a time. Each character is displayed in a 5x8 pixel matrix.

The 16x2 LCD can display 16 characters per line and there are two lines. It generally uses a Hitachi HD44780 driver which is a standard for most 16x2 LCD displays. The display can be interfaced using 4 or 8 data lines. The 16x2 LCD comes with a backlight that makes it easy to read in various lighting conditions. It also has an adjustable contrast feature. The contrast of the display is adjustable through a potentiometer connected to the V0 pin.

Pinout Diagram

Here, you can see the pinout diagram of 16×2 LCD Display 1602.

Pin Functions

As you can see in the above pinout diagram, the 16x2 LCD Display 1602 has 16 pins which are used for power, control, data, and backlight.

Here, below we have explained the function of each pin,

VSS (Pin 1): It is the Ground Pin(0V).

VDD (Pin 2): It is the Power supply Pin. (+5V).

V0 (Pin 3): It is the Contrast adjustment pin that is to be connected to the middle pin of a potentiometer, and the other two terminals of the potentiometer are to be connected to VDD and GND.

RS (Register Select, Pin 4): It is used to select either the Instruction Register or Data Register. When this pin is Low(0) it selects the Instruction Register that activates the command mode. When this pin is High(1) it selects the Data Register that activates the data mode.

RW (Read/Write, Pin 5): It is used to Select read or write mode. When this pin is Low(0) it activates the Write Mode and When this pin is High(1) it activates the Read Mode.

E (Enable, Pin 6): It is used to start data read/write operations by toggling from high to low.

D0 to D7 (Pins 7-14): These are the Data pins. The data pins D0-D3 (Pins 7-10) are not used in the 4-bit mode they are used in the 8-bit mode. The data pins D4-D7 (Pins 11-14) are used in both 4-bit and 8-bit modes for data transfer.

A (Anode, Pin 15): It is the Backlight LED positive terminal. It generally needs to be connected to 5V through a resistor.

K (Cathode, Pin 16): It is the Backlight LED negative terminal. It generally needs to be connected to GND.

16×2 LCD Display 1602 Connection Procedure

Connect the VSS (Pin 1) of the Display to GND on the Arduino.

Connect the VDD (Pin 2) of the Display to the 5V pin on the Arduino.

Connect the V0 (Pin 3) of the Display to the wiper (middle pin) of the 10kΩ potentiometer. The other two pins of the potentiometer go to 5V and GND, respectively, to adjust the contrast.

Connect the RS (Pin 4) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 12.

Connect the RW (Pin 5) of the Display to GND (to set the LCD in write mode).

Connect the E (Pin 6) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 11.

Connect the A (Anode, Pin 15) of the Display to 5V through a 220Ω resistor (or a similar value depending on your LCD).

Connect the K (Cathode, Pin 16) of the Display to GND.

4-bit mode

Connect the D4 (Pin 11) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 5.

Connect the D5 (Pin 12) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 4.

Connect the D6 (Pin 13) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 3.

Connect the D7 (Pin 14) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 2.

8-bit mode

Connect the D0 (Pin 7) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 8.

Connect the D1 (Pin 8) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 9.

Connect the D2 (Pin 9) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 10.

Connect the D3 (Pin 10) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 13.

Connect the D4 (Pin 11) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 5.

Connect the D5 (Pin 12) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 4.

Connect the D6 (Pin 13) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 3.

Connect the D7 (Pin 14) of the Display to Arduino digital pin 2.

Read Also: 

• 2-Digit, 3-Digit, and 4-Digit(12 Pin) 7-Segment Display Pinout
• 7-Segment Display Circuit Diagram
• 7-Segment Display Connection Procedure (Common Anode & Common Cathode)
• What is DPDT Switch? Double Pole Double Throw
• What is Relay Switch? Circuit Diagram and Working Principle

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